39 replies to this topic

[secretsea18]

Costs: This one is pretty nebulous at the moment. I can get an Air Thai NYC to Bangkok direct flight (17.5 hours) for about $1400. There are other flight options I am looking at via Hong Kong or Singapore, but the direct flight does appeal to me for many reasons. It would be another couple of hundred to carry onto Phuket. Diving and accommodation's would probably be in the $2K - 2.5K range with just the diving being $100 a day for a three tank dive on average. I am talking to a couple of local experts about that now. If I went that distance then I would like to stay for least 9 - 10 days of diving. Whatever pricing I get will be double checked through Wenchie to see if she can beat it with her contacts...

Concept: I am going for the diving. I know a lot of folks say to spend time doing the tourist thing in the rain forest and north country, but I can go back and do that when I am older and have an SO in my life... Yes Petra, I am talking about you... I suspect a combo of liveaboard and shore diving to see all that I can see. Weescot recommended Ko Phi Phi and the Andaman Sea. To that I will add the highly recommended Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock. One advantage to going as a group is we can hire a speedboat to take us where we want to go instead of a cookie cutter trip package.

I intend to do a middle of the road trip as far as comfort. I am not taking the cheapest, nor going with the most expensive for accommodation or LOB's. One recommended place on shore was Baan Krating. I am told the stated pricing drops in the off season.

OK, so that is where my research has led me so far. To be clear, nothing has been planned yet and I am open to suggs. Should give you an idea of what I have envisioned to this point though...

Simon,

You might want to consider a liveaboard. Though I see you have nixed it. How come? For your best diving, you gotta get away from the dayboats.

Robin

[cmt489]

Simon,

You might want to consider a liveaboard. Though I see you have nixed it. How come? For your best diving, you gotta get away from the dayboats.

Robin

I, like Simon, tend to try to avoid the liveabourds since I travel for so much more than the diving. To me, the diving is a bonus to the travel.

[WreckWench]

2009 Update:

Who would seriously consider Thailand for either late 2008 Nov/Dec or early 2009 i.e. Jan to Mar timeframe? I've been looking at Thailand for sometime now...anyone agree its time to go?

We'd do part landbased and part liveaboard to maximize the diving and the cultural diversity of this beautiful country!

[shadragon]

I, like Simon, tend to try to avoid the liveaboards since I travel for so much more than the diving. To me, the diving is a bonus to the travel.

It would be hard to travel to Thailand and not see the sights. Don't get me wrong folks, liveaboards have their place. I am doing one over this New Year in the Bahamas as most of you know from the Dream Dive auction. They give you access to the more remote dive sites and let you dive your face off with 5 dives a day. The down side is you are on the boat until it pulls into port. However, I am 6'2" and having a King sized bed waiting for me at the end of a dive day is a nice treat. Especially when flying more than half way around the world to get there (and back)!

There are a few luxurious boats out there that do have large cabins and big beds, but they cost a few $$$. If it was me then I would book a LOB for 3 - 5 days to get out to the outlying areas, then use a speedboat for day trips and have a nice comfy room waiting for me when I got back. Then you can go and see the local area, try different restaurants and local culture. Decent compromise...

This is an ever evolving plan and now that it is an official SD trip it is up to the folks that want to go to decide what they want so Wenchie can arrange it...

So what do you want???

[a_fl_mermaid]

I'm open to about anything as I'm not 6'2" and have never been on a live aboard so can't compare it to shore life. I suppose the only drawback would be being stuck on it in bad weather.....

[Quero]

May I chime in?

First of all, just a tiny comment on Shadragon's post # 31

....March /April are the hot months so I would like to avoid that.

Actually it's April/May that are so hot. March is great, and since the low season rates on hotels begins in March, that's one big incentive to wait until later.

Speaking of high/low seasons, high season starts Nov 1 in terms of bookings, but Mother Nature is not aware that we consider all of November to be the "dry" season. So while the winds have shifted direction and the seas have gotten flat, the water's not blue yet, and it's still raining significantly. Which brings me to....

I'm open to about anything as I'm not 6'2" and have never been on a live aboard so can't compare it to shore life. I suppose the only drawback would be being stuck on it in bad weather.....

Naturally, we can't guarantee that there won't be the odd thunderstorm, but in the late winter through most of spring--January to May--we often go weeks on end without seeing a cloud. So to avoid bad weather come then. My favorite months are Feb/March.

FWIW, Q.

[shadragon]

Actually it's April/May that are so hot. March is great, and since the low season rates on hotels begins in March, that's one big incentive to wait until later.

Thanks for the correction... I mis-typed... Feel free to contribute anything else of interest. As you live there you are uniquely qualified to answer a whole lot of Q's.

[a_fl_mermaid]

If we wait until March, are we now talking March 2009? and not March 2008?

[WreckWench]

If we wait until March, are we now talking March 2009? and not March 2008?

Yes March 2009! Lots of time to plan and save up...but the whole trip will be very reasonable compared to other offerings in the same region!

[Quero]

Feel free to contribute anything else of interest. As you live there you are uniquely qualified to answer a whole lot of Q's.

Q answers Q's

Ask away!